I’m going to sidetrack your potato salad discussion for just a minute, sorry.

The longer I’m here the less reason I find in discussing anything having to do with gods with theists. Yes it can be entertaining and good for a few laughs but in the end we might as well be talking to a wall. Hey! That reminds me of this story...

A CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time.

So he decides to check it out. He went to the Western Wall and there he was, walking slowly up to the holy site. He watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane and moving very slowly, he approached him for an interview.

"Pardon me, sir, I'm from CNN. May I have a word with you?

“Of course”, he replied.

"Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?"

“For about 60 years."

"60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?”

"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims. I pray for all the wars and all the hatred to stop. I pray for all our children to grow up safely as responsible adults, and to love their fellow man.”

“How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"

"Like I'm talking to a fucking wall."

Where was I? Oh, right...arguing with theists.

First thing they do is point at their holy scriptures and quote them as though this holds any sway over me. I would have to believe them first and I don’t so they might as well quote to me something from The Lord of The Rings Trilogy as it would have as much impact. Like Chas says the Bible is the claim not the evidence.

Then they want to riddle you with question regarding the origins of life as though somehow humanity’s continuing quest to conclusively answer how abiogenesis occured somehow supports whatever supernatural pet theory they hold. This holds true for the event referred to as the Big Bang and what existed “before” if anything. God of the gaps is their default position for every unknown in our compedium of knowledge, an absurd and ignorant proposition. Somehow the truth position of “we don’t know” or “we don’t know yet” equates in their feeble minds as a weakness that inconceivably strengthens their argument for the supernatural.

Meanwhile whenever they are asked for evidence of their pet god what you get is a combination of presuppossitional gymnastics worthy of Olympic gold or circular arguments but nary a trace of hard proof. None, nada, zip, zilch. Look, I’m not asking for anything more than I ask of any claimant for any other claim, present verifiable evidence and be done with it, shit or get off the pot.

Now, back to something actually important, how to make a proper potato salad (hint, it requires sour cream).

“I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man’s reasoning powers are not above the monkey’s.”~Mark Twain
“Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man - who has no gills.”~ Ambrose Bierce